Mr. Trump was displeased.
That rift might clarify why Ms. Hicks, 35, seemed visibly uncomfortable as she took the stand Friday morning and, in a notably smooth voice, admitted to feeling “nervous.” This, she testified, can be the primary time she had spoken in Mr. Trump’s presence in practically two years.
Ms. Hicks, who was reared within the buttoned-up neighborhood of Greenwich, Conn., the daughter and granddaughter of public relations males, has lengthy prized discretion, even amid a White Home that might be shockingly indiscreet. It was apparent on Friday that her return to the highlight was not by alternative.
In court docket, the place she appeared below subpoena, Ms. Hicks made clear that no matter disagreements had handed between them, she retained some fondness for the previous president, praising him as “a really laborious employee,” “higher than all people at communications and branding,” and referring to him, as she all the time has, as “Mr. Trump.”
When prosecutors requested about her function in responding to the notorious “Entry Hollywood” tape, which practically derailed Mr. Trump’s candidacy within the closing weeks of the 2016 race, a pained look flashed throughout her face, and he or she swallowed laborious.
Then, when Mr. Trump’s lawyer started his cross-examination, Ms. Hicks began to cry.
Her tears had been prompted by a collection of seemingly innocuous questions on her time working alongside the Trump household, all of which appeared to underline the uncooked stress that reverberated within the air. Right here was a fiercely loyal former aide, whose younger life was totally reworked by her proximity to Mr. Trump, now testifying for the prosecution at a trial about hush-money funds to an grownup movie star, all as a fascinated world seemed on.
